Priorities
by scpeede
Summary: When her Uncle Charlie called and asked her to visit in hopes of cheering up Bella, Annabelle Swan wasn't expecting her cousin to so closely resemble a zombie. She also wasn't expecting Forks to be overrun with vampires and werewolves. Eventual Bella/Jacob, Alice/Edward, Jasper/Annabelle. Slight Edward-bashing (figuratively and literally) in early to mid chapters.
1. Chapter 1

I didn't give this chapter the same amount of review I usually give things so you may see a typo (or twelve). Point them out if you care enough (if you don't, that's fine too).

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A feminine hand snaked out from under a threadbare comforter, blindly smacking at a TV tray being used as a nightstand, in search of the ringing landline. Her searching hand finally grasped the phone and put it up to her ear—after almost dropping it twice—as her other hand pushed the covers away from her face.

"'Lo?" She struggled to listen to the familiar voice on the other end of the line, mind still foggy with sleep. "Uncle Charlie?"

At his confirmation, she was suddenly wide awake. "Uncle Charlie, what's wrong? Did somethin' happen?"

Her sudden panic was replaced with confusion, the quickly shifting emotions causing her slight accent to thicken. "You called me at," she paused to glance at her alarm clock before continuing. "At three in the mornin' to tell be that Bella broke up with her boyfriend?"

After a quick apology for forgetting the time difference, her uncle recounted the break-up that had occurred a few months ago. "He did _what_?" she growled. If the break-up hadn't been bad enough to hear about, how Bella was handling said break-up was much worse.

Her uncle sighed heavily. "I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Don't worry, Uncle Charlie. We'll get our Bella back."

"How?" Charlie asked. "I've tried everything I can think of but she doesn't show the slightest interest in anything. Anna Lee, she barely says two words to anyone."

Anna rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "I'll talk to Mrs. Emma when I go into work today, see about gettin' a few days off to come up there. I'm due some vacation time anyway. You think Bella's up for some company?"

"I'm willing to try anything at this point, but I don't see how a visit from her favorite cousin could hurt."

"I'm her _only_ cousin, Uncle Charlie. It's not like I've got a lot of competition."

"Bella absolutely adores you, you know that."

"I'm pretty fond of her too." She stifled a yawn.

Charlie apologized again for the early hour and they hung up after a few more awkward pleasantries—small talk not an ability the Swan family possessed.

Anna's shoulders slumped as she looked at the clock. There'd be no point going back to sleep now when she needed to be at work by 5:30am. She sighed and forced herself out of bed.

The bell over the door gave a half-hearted jingle as she walked into the general store.

"Be with you in a minute!" she heard the owner call.

"It's just me."

"Oh. Mornin', Anna Lee. I'm in the back room."

Anna slowly made her way to the little room in the back of the store that was used as an office, straightening shelves as she moved through the displays. She leaned on the doorframe, watching Mrs. Emma fill out paperwork. Emma Darcy was a soft-figured woman with short blonde hair who seemed to perpetually look somewhere north of middle aged. "If you're orderin', we need more nabs."

"Nothin' new there."

"Heard on the radio this mornin' that we might catch the tail end of a nor'easter. We should stock the usual storm provisions."

Anna's boss didn't look up from her forms. "I'd like a count of what we already have before I—" She stopped as a scrap of paper was placed in front of her. "I should have known you'd already taken stock." Emma pushed her paperwork aside as she looked at Anna. "There's somethin' goin' on with you. Pull up a chair and tell me about it."

"It can wait."

"Whatever it is, it's more important than orderin' nabs. Now sit your behind down and tell me what's goin' on."

Anna pulled up a chair and told Emma everything that her uncle had told her earlier. "Can you believe that? He took Bella—the very definition of a city girl—out to the woods to break up with her. And then the bastard left her out there! That girl couldn't find her way out of a paper bag and anybody that's met her knows it!" She sighed. "And now Uncle Charlie says she's doin' a damned fine impression of a zombie."

"It doesn't sound like it was the healthiest of relationships to begin with. Whether your cousin realizes it or not, I think she's better off without him."

"You and me both."

"You should go."

"Of course I'm goin'. I was just hopin' you'd give me a couple days off to do so."

Emma waved her hand at the remark. "Take all the time you need. You go and help Bella through this."

"Thank you." The tension in her shoulders eased. "I didn't want to quit, but…"

"But family's more important," her boss finished. "I understand, probably better than most. When I was only a little older than you, I quit a good-payin' job to help my sister get back on her feet. Though, she'd been married to her bastard. Still, Bella needs all the support she can get after a relationship like that. She's fragile now. And if that town's as small as this one, she can't just ignore him."

"I think Uncle Charlie said they were in the same class. And school starts again in a couple of days."

"Poor thing." Emma winced in sympathy. "What are you goin' to do if you run into him?"

"Oh, nothin' you wouldn't do, I'm sure."

They shared a grin, the sadistic kind of grin that only the family of a wronged woman could make.

"If you leave now, you can make good time." She pulled Anna into a warm hug. "You just let me know if you need anything, even if it's just a listenin' ear. And you let me know how she's doin'."

"I will."

Esme Cullen stood in line at the grocery store, as she did every Thursday afternoon, buying food for a family that wouldn't eat it. She smiled politely at the cashier and pulled her checkbook out of her purse, a folded piece of paper carefully wedged between the pages. It was a quick sketch of Bella with Alice's neat cursive underneath, "Bus station, 4:50pm. She'll need a ride."

She wasn't sure why Bella would be at the bus station, but she trusted Alice. If Alice thought that she needed to be there to pick up Bella, she would be. Luckily, she had just enough time to get the groceries into the car and get to the station.

She pulled into the station with barely a minute to spare, immediately searching out Bella. Her phone vibrated, alerting her to a text message from Alice, "Buy a magazine."

Esme wasn't expecting much of a selection, but just as she was about to give in and buy a tabloid, she spotted a title that she'd been unable find in any of the stores in Forks.

 _This_ was why she didn't doubt Alice.

Even after paying for the magazine, she still hadn't spotted Bella. Esme was considering trying to track her scent when a muttered curse caught her attention. A petite brunette stood by the payphone, emptying her pockets in search of change.

Esme breathed a sigh of relief. Bella was fine—stranded at the bus station, but fine. Bella then tilted her head back to look at the sky for a moment, giving Esme a good look at her face. A face that, while remarkably similar, did not belong to Bella. Esme had Alice's sketch out in an instant, comparing it to the doppelgänger. While this young woman could have easily been Bella's long-lost twin, at second glance Esme picked up on the small details that she had overlooked in her concern for Bella's well-being. They had the same build, the same bone structure, the same dark hair and chocolate eyes. But where Bella's eyes held an overabundance of warmth and curiosity, the stranger's gaze was sharper. More knowing. She had the sudden thought that a smile from her would be hard-won. Her clothing was also much more casual than anything Esme had ever seen Bella in—jeans, scuffed boots, and a T-shirt she couldn't read the logo on at this angle.

Perhaps she was related to Bella.

The girl's sharp gaze finally rested on Esme and she moved toward her, a dollar bill clutched in her hand. "Excuse me, ma'am, do you have change for a dollar?"

Esme fought down a smile at the unexpected accent, greatly reminded of Jasper. She was sure that he would be thrilled to hear a voice from home—human though it may be. "I think the smallest I have is a five, dear. Will that do?" She reached for her purse.

"Oh, no, no." the girl protested. "I just need change enough for the payphone."

She frowned. "I'm afraid that won't help much. That phone hasn't had a dial tone since the eighties." Esme watched the girl's shoulder's droop and quickly offered her cell phone as an option. "Here. Why don't you use mine?"

"I couldn't. I'll just…" She trailed off, unsure. "I'll just wait. My uncle knows I'm here."

It seemed that a relation to the Swan family wasn't such a far-fetched idea. "I insist."

The unnamed Swan was still hesitant. "If you're sure you don't mind? My bus got in a little earlier than I thought it would."

"No trouble at all, dear."

"Thank you." She held the borrowed phone as though it was made of spun glass instead of nearly indestructible plastic. Carefully dialing her uncle's number, she listened to it ring continuously for a few minutes before ending the call. "Uncle Charlie really needs to get voicemail."

"No answer?" Esme asked, even though she'd heard for herself clearly enough.

"No." She handed the phone back to its owner. "Thanks anyway."

"Your Uncle Charlie was supposed to pick you up?"

"Yeah."

"This Uncle Charlie of yours wouldn't happen to be Charlie Swan, would it?"

"You know Uncle Charlie?"

Esme chuckled. "I think everyone in town knows Chief Swan."

"Right." A slight flush covered her cheeks. It appeared that blushing easily was a family trait.

"When was he expecting you in?"

"Seven."

"Why don't I give you a ride into town?" Esme couldn't stand the thought of Bella's cousin waiting at the bus station for another two hours. Any number of terrible things could happen to a young girl waiting alone in an isolated place. She shuddered. "I'd hate to think that you were stranded out here."

The hesitance was back full-force. "I wouldn't want you to go out of your way."

"It's not out of the way at all. In fact, I have to pass by the sheriff's office to get home whether you ride along or not."

Bella's cousin bit her lip as her eyes darted around the nearly deserted station.

"I'm Esme. Esme Cullen."

"Annabelle Lee Swan. Anna." It was an automatic reaction if Esme had ever heard one. And clear that neither Swan girl cared for their first name.

"My daughter Alice is in Bella's class." She noticed how Anna relaxed slightly at the mention of her cousin's nickname and continued on, hoping to put the girl at ease. "Alice just loves her, you know. They used to have a sleepover every weekend. I hope they get back to that. It's always nice to have a house filled with laughter." She eyed the duffle bag slung over her shoulder. "Is that all you have?"

Anna nodded, still seeming a little anxious.

Esme guided her to the car, keeping up a steady stream of chatter until they were well on their way back to town. "You and Bella should come over for dinner one night. Only if you have time, of course. I don't mean to intrude on your visit. Oh, Alice would just love that. She really misses Bella. All of the kids do, really. It's understandable—" She broke off to answer her phone. "Speak of the devil. Yes, Alice?"

"Pull back!" Alice demanded. "She's going to be part of the family, yes, but we're not there yet. You're still a stranger to her. She's not like Bella. Anna's a little… standoffish. Like Jasper before he was officially a Cullen. You can't ju—say something mom-like!"

No longer surprised by Alice's sudden insights in the middle of conversation, she did as ordered, blandly replying, "Yes, Alice. I got your favorite cereal. The same kind I've been buying for three years now. I know what I'm doing."

"Phew! One crisis averted. She's annoyingly suspicious for a human. Seriously. She's making this much harder than it has to be. Oh! Say something mom-like again!"

"Yes, I remembered your toothpaste," she told Alice with a tired sort of patience. "I'm not senile yet. Though it seems that even if I'd forgotten, the note you hid in my purse would have jogged my memory."

"Sorry about the lack of warning," Alice apologized. "But if I'd told you beforehand, Edward would have found out and Edward _could not_ be the first Cullen she met. Nothing good came from that. _Nothing_. Three dozen ways that scenario could go and none of them good. But I think everything will work out now. I hope. She's hard to predict." She paused. "Well, it might not be smooth sailing, but the happy ending is still happy for everyone involved. Though you're about to find out why you needed to buy a magazine at a bus station. Just remember not to press so hard with her. Kid gloves until further notice, okay?"

"I think I can manage that." Esme ended the call, her attention drawn to Anna who was glancing warily from Esme to the backseat. "Is something wrong?"

"Were you pickin' someone up?"

"I'm sorry?" The vampire was unsure when the girl's faint amusement over cereal and toothpaste had shifted into apprehension.

"From the bus station," Anna clarified, voice steady despite the near panic Esme could sense from her. "Were you supposed to pick up someone from the bus station?"

Ah, that explained the need for a magazine. "No, nothing like that. I was buying a magazine."

"From the _bus station_?"

Esme slowly reached into her purse for the newly purchased magazine, handing it to the human. "I've searched Forks over, but no one else sells my favorite magazine. As much as I love _Designing Home_ , I'm not driving all the way to Port Angeles for it. I don't know why a bus station carries a magazine catering to those interested in interior design, but I've decided not to question it."

Anna relaxed as she smoothed her hand over the cover of the magazine.

And another crisis averted. It was time to put the kid gloves on. Esme kept up a light—and mostly one-sided—conversation concerning interior design and the magazine she was so fond of, glad that she'd picked a title she recognized. By the time they reached the sheriff's office, Anna was tentatively offering an occasional opinion.

Anna was quick to gather her things when they pulled up the curb. "Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Cullen."

"It was no trouble at all, dear." Esme replied, waving off her concern. "And call me 'Esme'. I don't like how old 'Mrs. Cullen' makes me feel."

The newest Swan shot her a polite smile that didn't reach anywhere near her eyes as she opened the car door.

"And I was serious about having you and Bella over for dinner. And Charlie is more than welcome as well. Just think about it, okay?"

Anna was already out of the car and shutting the door. "Okay. Thanks again, Mrs. Cullen."

Esme watched as she disappeared into the sheriff's office and sighed. "I'm too young to feel this old."

She pulled back onto the street and headed home, hoping that Alice would share a few more details about the newest addition to Forks.


	2. Chapter 2

Anna peered around the office door and, seeing her uncle hard at work, knocked softly on the doorframe.

"I'll be with you in just a minute." Chief Swan quickly glanced up from his paperwork to see which resident of Forks was bringing him a problem he probably didn't want to be involved in. "Anna Lee! I wasn't expecting your bus for another hour."

"Neither was I." She moved to one of the chairs facing his desk and dropped her duffle bag at her feet.

Charlie made a neat stack of the papers he was working on and set them aside. "Tell me you didn't walk all the way here. I would have picked you up; all you had to do was call."

"I did call. On that note, why don't you have voicemail?"

Her uncle frowned in confusion and pulled out his cell phone. "I'm supposed to. Don't all these things have it?"

"They do if you set it up."

"You have to set it up?"

Anna wordlessly held out her hand for his phone.

After a moment, he obediently handed it over. "I thought it was strange that no one ever left a message."

"I'd stop talkin' if I were you, Uncle Charlie. Court of law and that usin' it against you bit," she told him as she poked at his phone.

Charlie decided he'd dug enough of a hole for himself and changed the subject. "I'm sorry you walked out here."

"I didn't. I was going to, mind, but a Mrs. Cullen insisted on givin' me a lift." Her brows drew together as she considered the event. "We were talkin' about a lot of nothin' and, next thing I know, I'm in her car."

"That's Esme Cullen. She and Carlisle are good people. That son of theirs, on the other hand…" He trailed off as his lip twisted up.

"Bella's ex belonged to them? Well, that explains a lot of that one-sided conversation. She kept tellin' me how much her kids missed Bella, but I figured it was on account of her zombie act." Anna held the phone to her ear to listen then looked at it to punch a few keys. "Hell of a situation."

"Yeah." Charlie thought that was a bit of an understatement, himself. "Bella and Alice were good friends. She was friends with all of the Cullen kids."

"Just how many kids do they have?"

"Five, and all of them teenagers."

She gave a low whistle and passed his phone back to him. "Your password is 23557."

"How am I supposed to remember some random number?" Charlie groaned.

Anna just looked at him. "Because it's 'BELLS'."

"I withdraw my complaint." He had the decency to look somewhat sheepish. "Now how do I use it?"

"Let's save that lesson for when you actually have a voicemail to listen to. If it ever happens. Half the town is probably convinced they have to see you in person to have a conversation."

Charlie grinned and tucked the phone away. "Were you able to get a few days off work?"

"Yeah. I'm here as long as you need me."

He couldn't suppress the relieved sigh. "I was hoping that you could stay until school starts again. I know you'll have to get back to your own classes at that point, but I was thinking that maybe a week would be enough time to pull Bella out of her slump. Can you stay that long?"

"I can stay longer if you need me to. It's not any trouble."

"No, you need to go to school. Same as Bella."

She smiled. "I'm nineteen, Uncle Charlie. Almost twenty."

"Right, right. I knew that. You would have graduated last May."

"Would've." Anna agreed.

Charlie nodded along until the realization hit, then turned his patented sheriff stare on his niece. "What do you mean 'would have'?"

She shrugged, unaffected. "I dropped out."

"You—you—" he sputtered.

"Dropped out."

" _Why_? Why would you do that so close to graduation?"

"I didn't."

"But you just said—"

"I dropped out at _sixteen_. I would've done it sooner, but I thought I should at least finish out the year."

Charlie couldn't seem to wrap his head around it. "But _why_? Why would you drop out of school? You're a smart girl; why waste your intelligence like that?"

"I didn't have much choice. It was down to stayin' to school and slowly starvin' to death or droppin' out, gettin' a job, and not goin' hungry."

His face took on a bewildered expression. "Why would you starve? Don't tell me your father lost his job."

"Not so much 'lost his job' as 'spent every available dime on booze'. I figure he's got majority share in the liquor store at this point." She told him dryly, following it with a level stare. "It's not my priorities that are mixed up, Uncle Charlie. It's everyone else's."

Charlie was silent for a long moment, considering what he'd been told. "That's it. I've decided. You'll stay here with me and Bella and go back to school."

"But I can't."

"And why not?" he demanded.

"I must work to prevent starvation," she pronounced slowly.

"You don't need to worry about that. As your father is clearly refusing to do his job, it looks like it's been left to me."

"But, Uncle Charlie, I can't ask you to do that," she objected.

"You're not asking me for anything. I'm _telling you_ how it's going to be. I just wish that I'd known sooner." He sighed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to be a bother."

"You're not a bother! You're family! This is what family does for one another! I thought you knew that. Just look at what you're doing for Bella, someone you haven't seen in years. You dropped everything and traveled halfway across the country to help her get over a break-up!"

Anna shrugged. "She's family."

Charlie's voice softened. "That's exactly my point, Anna Lee. I'd move heaven and earth to help you, just like you would for me and Bella. And to be honest, making it so you don't have to choose between an education and basic necessities is a lot easier on my back."

They shared a grin and he continued. "We can clear out the guest room for you. It could probably use a coat of paint, but it's a good size and it has everything you need. I'm sure Bella could be talked into helping you spruce it up a bit. She did a good job on her own room when she moved back. And I think it'll be good for her, having someone else in the house. I end up taking a lot of late shifts so she's by herself a lot of the time. And—" he trailed off. "And I haven't even asked how you felt about any of this."

"I just—the fact that you even want to… Uncle Charlie, I'm just so grateful I can't even find the words to tell you."

He waved off her concern. "Don't worry about that. It just proves you're a Swan."

She concurred. "We got shorted in our conversational skills."

"That we did." He paused. "You don't mind moving to Forks?"

"All I've got back home is workin' for Mrs. Emma. As much as I like workin' at the store, it's not reason enough to stay. Besides, I think Bella needs me more than Mrs. Emma does."

"That's probably true," Charlie admitted. "So you'll come live with us for a while?"

"As long as Bella's alright with it."

"Do you really see her having a problem with it?"

"No," she answered. "But that's not why we're askin'. We're askin' because she needs to know that she's allowed to make decisions, that we _trust her_ to make decisions for herself."

"That—it sounds like a small thing, but it really isn't, is it?"

"She's hurtin', Uncle Charlie. And we can't see where."

"How are we supposed to fix what we can't see?"

"We aren't. Healin' or not healin' is up to Bella. We just have to make sure that she knows we're here for her and we love her, no matter what she decides."

He stared at his niece. "How did you get to be so wise?"

"I'm not wise; I just took some very good advice."

Charlie pushed open the front door. "Hey, Bells! I've got a surprise for you."

"Is it pizza again?" Bella asked from the kitchen. "Because I already made lasagna. Though, I guess we could put the lasagna in the freezer and have it later this week. I think Italian two nights in a row would be a little much."

"I didn't bring pizza," he told her from the doorway of the kitchen.

Bella looked up from the lasagna as Charlie stepped aside to reveal Anna. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Anna Lee?"

Anna smiled softly. "Hey, Bells."

Bella dropped everything to the table with a loud clatter and rushed to hug her cousin. "Oh, my God! I can't believe you're here! How long are you staying?"

Her smile took on a nervous cast. "Uh, well, I might be stayin' a while, actually. If you don't mind, that is."

"Mind? Why would I mind? Stay forever if you want to. Oh! We can redecorate the guest room for you, make it welcoming to humans instead of dust bunnies." Bella gave her father a pointed look. "Right, Charlie?"

Charlie stood there as his shocked relief morphed into a wide smile, coughing to clear the emotion out of his throat. "Right."

Bella's grin was wide. "This is going to be great. Just like old times."

"See?" Charlie asked his niece. "I told you she'd be okay with it."

"Of course I'm okay with it."

He looked towards Bella at her insistence that she was fine with the arrangement. "So, Bells, do you think Forks High is big enough to handle two Swan girls?"

Bella frowned at her cousin. "I thought you'd be done with school by now."

"Not so much, no."

"I'm going to take her over to the school first thing tomorrow morning, get her enrolled so she can start Monday with everyone else. It shouldn't be too hard to get her records faxed over." Charlie gave the girls a quick grin. "Being sheriff does come with a few perks."

Bella raised an eyebrow. "Prompt faxes?"

"Insatiable cravings for fried pastries?" Anna asked innocently, causing Bella to giggle.

"Hush, you." Charlie admonished her, but couldn't help the smile that crossed his face at the sound of his daughter's laughter. In a matter of minutes, his niece had brought Bella out of her self-imposed shell just by being there. He wondered where Anna had gotten her advice—he'd certainly like to subscribe—because it appeared to be working. Charlie knew that every day wouldn't be this easy, not with teenage girls in the mix, but for the first time since the break-up, he was hopeful.

Maybe, just maybe, he'd been trying too hard to repair what wasn't his to fix.


	3. Chapter 3

Always an early riser, it was barely six o'clock the next morning when Charlie headed to the kitchen to get the coffee started. He paused in the doorway, surprised to see Anna Lee up at this hour. And not just awake and in the kitchen, but dressed and nearly done dealing with the dirty dishes that had been piling up on the counter. In all honesty, he'd been shocked to find Bella in the kitchen at all last night. "You know, when I mentioned going over to the school this morning, I didn't mean quite this early."

Anna Lee glanced up at him as she dried off a plate and put it back in one of the open cabinets. "I've been gettin' up at the crack of dawn for too long to be able to sleep in. If the sun rises and I'm still in bed, I'm probably sick."

"There's nothing wrong with being a morning person."

"I wouldn't take it that far. It's mostly just habit." She dried off a mug and handed it to her uncle. "I made coffee. I would've fixed breakfast but I wasn't sure if you and Bells were dry toast or full spread folks in the mornin'."

"I usually just grab something at the diner on the way to the station since Bells isn't awake enough to cook breakfast." He shot her a wry grin as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "And since I've been banned from the stove since she was tall enough to reach it."

"If you want, I can start fixin' breakfast."

"You don't have to do that," Charlie protested.

"I don't mind. Only, your pantry's a little…" Anna assured him, hesitating when she thought of the pantry's bare shelves.

"Empty?"

"I was tryin' to be nice about it, but, yeah."

"Bella used to do the grocery runs. Lately, though…"

"Zombie Bella." She finished for him.

He sighed. "Yeah."

"Given the state of your pantry, I'm not at all convinced that the lasagna we had last night was actually made with lasagna-approved ingredients."

"I'm surprised that there was a hot meal waiting for us." Charlie frowned suddenly. "Now that you mention it, I'm almost sure that we didn't have any meat to put in a meat sauce."

Uncle and niece exchanged a long look.

"Agreeing to never think about the lasagna and your bare cupboards at the same time for the continued good cheer of our stomachs?" She offered.

"Agreed. I'd like to be able to eat lasagna again in this lifetime." He shook his head, trying to rid it of lasagna related thoughts. "On to subjects better for our mental health?"

"Please." Anna Lee again took up dish duty, leaving the choice of subject up to her uncle.

An uncle who was drawing a blank when it came to conversational topics. "Are you excited to go back to school?"

She stilled, not wanting to offend the person who was making such a thing possible. "I'm excited that my resumes will now include a high school diploma."

"So that's a 'no'?"

"I wasn't excited about goin' to school even when I _wouldn't_ be the oldest student there." She admitted.

"It won't be so bad. I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends."

"Acquaintances, maybe. To be friends, you actually have to have things in common." Anna continued over his protest. "Uncle Charlie, look at me. Do I look like I care who's datin' who, or what the popular girls are wearin', or who's chairin' the prom committee? Ever since Mom died, I've had exactly two concerns: a roof over my head and food I could eat. That tends to narrow down the talkin' points. And there's not a Swan alive known for small talk."

"I told you, you don't have to worry about those things anymore. This is a good chance for you to connect with people your age, or close to it. Just try, Anna Lee. Who knows? You might decide that you want to chair the prom committee."

She grimaced at the thought her uncle's attempt at humor had conjured. "Maybe I'll start with the gossipin'."

Principal Greene immediately rose from his chair and offered a hand when Charlie and Anna Lee entered his office. "Chief Swan, I got your message. And you must be Annabelle."

She accepted the principal's handshake. "Anna." She insisted.

But Mr. Greene had already turned his attention back to her uncle. "There's not much left to do, just a few forms to fill out. Her records were faxed over first thing this morning. I'll get them now."

"See?" Charlie asked her as the principal left the office. "Perks."

"You realize that you just introduced me to a man twenty years your senior who clearly understands the concept of voicemail?" Anna returned dryly.

"Don't make me volunteer you to paint flyers for prom." He teasingly threatened his niece.

"You'd never do it."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes." She returned confidently. "We both know I'd paint the flyers if you volunteered me to. But what we _don't_ know is what those flyers would actually say."

"Huh. I'd forgotten that Bells was the good apple and you were the rotten one."

She hummed in agreement. "But no one makes pie out of me."

Charlie was still trying to decide whether her comment was a less than hilarious joke or whether it made some strange kind of sense when Principal Greene returned.

"Alright, let's have a look." Mr. Greene settled behind his desk and flipped open a folder to thumb through Anna's transcripts.

"I know that Anna's only completed her sophomore year, but is there any way we can get her in some senior classes?" Charlie asked hopefully. "Independent study, maybe? She's a little worried about being so much older than her classmates."

"I'm sure something can be worked out. If she's anything like Isabella, I have no doubt that she can test into them on her own merit." The principal frowned down at the papers.

"Is something wrong? If you're worried about whether she can keep up with the work, I know she can. She's a smart girl and I'm sure Bella would be more than happy to—"

"I don't believe that will be necessary." He said, cutting Charlie off, and directed his gaze to Anna. "You were enrolled in AP classes?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you were on track to graduate early?"

"Yes, sir."

"How early?" Charlie interrupted, immediately suspicious.

"A full year, it seems. I see no reason why she can't be placed in senior classes. After all, she's prepared for them."

"You only had a year left when you dropped out?"

Anna ignored his incredulous look, instead focusing on the principal. "I told you before, Uncle Charlie. My priorities are fine."

After that, the needed forms were quickly dealt with and Anna Lee was given a schedule and a slip of paper for all of her teachers to sign on the first day of classes. Principal Greene had insisted on two free study periods as she had very few requirements left to meet. He had also extracted a promise from her that she would go to her teachers immediately if she didn't understand a concept or felt that she was falling behind—greatly reassuring her uncle. In turn, he had promised Charlie that her teachers would be made aware of her circumstances and prepared to help her should she need it.

Charlie had dropped Anna Lee back at the house before heading to work. Deciding to make herself useful, she spent the rest of the morning cleaning the guest room from floor to ceiling—Bella hadn't been exaggerating about those dust bunnies—and unpacking the few things she'd brought with her. The room was actually in great shape and, if it hadn't been for the way Bella had brightened at the prospect of a new project, she would have just let it be. She would just let Bella take the reins of the project as she wasn't picky about paint colors and curtains and knick-knacks.

Around noon, she heard Bella begin to move around upstairs and made her way to the kitchen to throw lunch together—until she remembered the pathetic state of the cupboards.

Maybe she'd just convince Bella to hit the diner?

Yeah, they'd have lunch at the diner and then they'd go grocery shopping.

Grocery shopping was pretty much non-negotiable at this point.

Anna hadn't been able to talk Bella out of ordering a salad, but she _had_ convinced her to share a basket of fries. Operation: Fatten Bella Up was a go. Her cousin was too skinny. And, okay, maybe Anna didn't have a lot of room to talk on that particular subject, but at least she didn't look like a stiff breeze would knock her over.

She eyed Bella.

The girl looked like _the slightest breeze_ would knock her over.

Good thing the operation was officially underway.

The waitress set their order down on the table and Anna's eyes were drawn to the basket of fries between them. "Oh, french fries, how I've missed you!"

Bella calmly raised her eyebrows at her cousin's antics.

"They're even better than I remember," Anna groaned as she stuffed more fries than was strictly polite in her mouth. "How did I ever live without you?"

Bella smothered a grin. "If anyone asks, I don't know you."

Anna swallowed and pointed with a fry. "And that denial would probably work if the Swan genes weren't ridiculously strong."

"Yeah, we're definitely related. Anyone can see that." Bella paused to swipe a fry from the basket. "I can see the headlines now," she spread her hands in the air as though she were highlighting one of those headlines. "Long-Lost Swan Returns To Forks, Population Now 3,546."

Anna grinned, mimicking her cousin. "Bella or Anna: Who _Is_ The Evil Twin?"

"You, obviously." Bella answered the made-up headline, then continued. "Chief Swan: Did He Cheat On Ex-Wife?"

"Of course not, I'm older than you. If anyone's mom was cheated on, it was mine. Police Chief's Love Child Discovered."

Bella snorted. "That's just wrong. Funny, but wrong. I can't even imagine Charlie having a love child. Renee, yes, dozens of them. But Charlie? No, not even."

"You're right." Anna's head tilted in thought. "I can't picture it. Your mom, though? In a meadow surrounded by children runnin' around wearin' little flower crowns."

"That's exactly what I saw, too," Bella giggled.

"Then it must be true."

"I wonder where she's hiding all of them."

The cousins looked at each other, suddenly struck by the same thought. "Woodstock!" they shouted, before dissolving into helpless laughter.

Bella was the first to catch her breath. "I love my mom, but I can so see her doing something like that."

"She's also young and recently remarried. The chances of you becomin' a big sister are pretty high."

The younger Swan considered the thought of her mother having more children. "I'm so glad Phil's responsible."

"Is Uncle Charlie datin' anybody?"

"If he is, he hasn't said anything. Why?"

Anna shrugged. "It's not like he's old."

Bella turned the same consideration to her father. "We'll have to pay closer attention, see if he's interested in anyone."

"Are you schemin' things?"

"Oh, it's way too soon to scheme. This is more of a… pre-scheme."

"And _I_ get called the evil twin."

Bella gave her most innocent smile.

Her cousin was unimpressed. "I don't believe it for a second."

"So what do you want to do after lunch?" Bella aksed, turning the subject away from her evil schemes. "I'd offer to show you around, but nothing has changed since the last time you were here."

"It's been years, though."

" _Absolutely_ _nothing_." She insisted.

Anna laughed. "It might be a good idea to swing by the grocery store."

Bella agreed with a nod. "I didn't bring the list, though."

"List? What good is a list? We need _everything_."

"Good point. And we should stop by a few other places. Travel-size toothpaste and shampoo will only get you so far. I also doubt that your wardrobe is prepared for our weather. Not that I mind if you borrow my clothes, but you could use some of your own."

"It is a little colder than I'm used to," Anna conceded lightly.

Her cousin's eyes lit up. "And we can stop by the hardware store and look at paint colors. You should have woken me up this morning. I would have helped you clean."

"It's summer vacation. I might be the evil one, but I'm not _that_ cruel. At least one of us needed to sleep in."

"I can't believe you'll be going to school with me. How did that happen, anyway?"

Anna gave her little cousin the highlights of the past few years and the results of the morning's meeting with the principal.

"So you'll be a senior?"

"You have no idea how relieved I am."

"I'm a little bummed that we won't be in the same class, but no one else gets to say that they hang out with a senior. I get to be the cool kid."

"At least until the news gets old."

"True. But I've never been cool before. The newest attraction, sure, but never cool." She brightened suddenly. "I won't be the new kid anymore!"

Anna let her face fall into her hand. "Crap. _I'm_ the new kid."

Bella just laughed.

Anna figured a moment of her cousin's carefree laughter was a fair trade for the awkwardness of being the new student.

At least one of them should have fun with it.

Jasper hadn't wanted to tag along on this little outing, but arguing with Alice was counterproductive at best. So here he was, wandering around the drugstore after she'd sent him on his way with a "you need to be human today, Jasper." He loved Alice like a little sister, but she really bugged the hell out of him some days.

Which, he supposed, was the point of little sisters.

What made it worse, though, was that Peter had told him to play along with the little pixie's plans. The part that bothered him most wasn't that he'd been railroaded into it—though it did grate on his nerves. No, what bothered him about this was that he was being told to do the same thing for two very different reasons. Now, Peter, he always railroaded him into things for his own good. Peter was looking after him, even from a few hundred miles away.

But, Alice…

There was no telling who she was looking out for today but, odds were, it wasn't Jasper.

It was probably Edward.

He just didn't get it. Oh, he knew why Alice did it—he couldn't blame her for wanting to help her mate even if said mate was an idiot who didn't realize what he had in Alice.

But what had Edward ever done for them?

Made their lives infinitely more difficult, that's what.

Jasper didn't mind Bella—actually liked the girl—but he felt that it was nothing short of _sheer_ _stupidity_ for a vampire to date his singer. And then, when things went pear-shaped—because they were _obviously_ heading in that direction, even if Edward refused to see it—they were forbidden from having any further contact with Bella.

He couldn't even acknowledge the girl that he'd begun to see as family.

If he'd still been in Texas, Jasper would have said to hell with all of it and done as he pleased. But he wasn't about to defy Carlisle's orders in the man's own territory, no matter how much he disagreed with them.

He wasn't even sure why he was here anymore. Sure, he'd followed Alice on the assurance that this was where he'd meet his mate—well, after Peter had vouched for her promises.

But it had been sixty years.

He missed his coven.

He missed his _home_.

And the longer he stayed here in Forks, the more sure he was that he'd come to hate the Cullens.

That wasn't what he wanted at all.

Jasper was so deep in thought that he wasn't paying the usual amount of attention to his surroundings, bumping into a shopper as he rounded the corner of an aisle. He instinctively reached out a hand to steady her—though he hadn't knocked into her hard enough to knock her down—and his eyes drifted to her face, immediately knowing that she had to be a Swan. With those features, it was impossible for her to belong to any other family.

"Sorry, I wo—" Her automatic apology stuck in her throat as she froze in place.

He was more shocked by the strong emotions that seemed to explode from an otherwise calm and unflappable aura than he was by the misplaced accent, though something in his chest unclenched at the sound of a familiar drawl. "Miss? Is everything alright?"

The girl's eyes were searching the store, her confusion and concern quickly morphing into panic and necessity—a combination he recognized as the drive to protect something precious. She caught sight of something over one of the displays and her aura crackled with unadulterated rage and something he could only describe as bloodlust.

Her voice was quiet but sure when she spoke, absolute fury hardening her tone. "Oh, it's gonna be."

Jasper followed her line of sight as she moved to exit the store.

Bella.

Who looked to have been making her way to the drugstore when she'd been ambushed by Edward. At least it looked like Alice was trying to drag the idiotic vampire away from the human. But Bella looked about a half second away from tears.

He swallowed back a curse, following the unnamed Swan toward the confrontation. And he didn't need to be an empath to know that she wasn't getting any happier the closer they got to them.

"Oh, Bella. Of course we didn't last. You were only good for one thing and, since I don't need _it_ , I don't need you."

Jasper watched the first tear roll down Bella's cheek at Edward's patronizing tone as Mystery Swan's aura shattered and disappeared from his senses completely.

And that worried him far more than the bloodlust she'd felt.

The plastic shopping bag she was holding dropped to the ground—something inside cracking—but she didn't stop moving forward and her now-empty hand curled into a fist and flew at Edward's face.

Time seemed to slow for a moment. Edward was focused on Bella to the point where he was ignoring everything else. Alice was wide-eyed with shock but made no move to stop her. Bella looked to have a warning on the tip of her tongue, even through the tears clouding her vision. And something was telling Jasper to let it happen. It went against logic, but if there was anything he trusted more than Peter's insights, it was his own instincts.

Everything seemed to fast-forward then and her fist caught Edward under the chin and sent him sprawling on the pavement as everyone stared at her in shock. Her chest heaved with barely restrained emotion, her arm moving back to her side even as her fingers remained curled into a fist, and her face—in that moment, Jasper was sure that she was wrath incarnate.

And she was _glorious_.

Edward cradled his jaw as he stared up at her, his confusion evident. "That hurt."

"Good," she snarled. "Means you'll be ready for the next one."

She flexed a fist, the skin of a busted knuckle splitting wider and her blood scenting the air. Jasper slammed his mental shields up so quickly that Edward rocked back from the force. But he couldn't let the telepath see _this_ , see what she was to him, what she would be to him. He can't let him hear every instinct he had as man and monster howling ' _Mine!'_.

She had to be protected.

And Edward couldn't be trusted.

So he caught her around the waist as she leapt at Edward, both fists up this time. "Whoa, there."

She turned in his hold, teeth bared, the calm waves he was sending in her direction clearly not doing jack shit.

"Easy, darlin'."

"Let. Me. _Down_."

Jasper absently noted that her accent had deepened to one that promised death and dismemberment, though not necessarily in that order. "I would. But then you'd kill Edward. And, while I whole-heartedly agree that he deserves it, I'm enough of a pariah _without_ everyone believing that I stood by and let someone kill my brother. Again, even though _he deserves_ _it_." He shot a pointed look at Edward, who was gingerly scraping himself off the ground.

Edward turned guileless eyes on the human who had been shocked out of her tears. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend, Bella?"

Jasper blinked as Bella's emotions disappeared as well. He didn't know if it was Bella or his mate that was responsible for the disappearing auras—or if both of them were—but he was now sure that shields ran in the Swan line. He was forced to grab the back of his mate's shirt and tuck her back under his arm as she very nearly made it to Edward, something in him purring at her ready defense of her cousin.

He could also hear Alice hissing at Edward to keep his mouth shut.

His mate's head turned slowly in his direction. "Again, I'm tellin' you to let. Me. _Down_."

"Again, I'm tellin' you no can do, darlin'." Jasper was calm as he denied her request. "I can't let you kill him. Esme'd cry if I didn't bring my little brother home in one piece."

She actually seemed to be considering his words as she shifted awkwardly in his hold.

Unable to cause his mate even the slightest discomfort, he turned her so that she was upright—the arm around her waist pressing her back against his chest and keeping her toes the barest inch over the pavement. Giving her any sort of leverage was a bad idea. Her face may have been approaching calm now, but he knew she'd take advantage of any weakness in his hold to put Edward back on the ground.

She kicked out slightly in search of leverage, stilling when she didn't get it and looking at him. "That's your brother?"

At his nod, she patted his shoulder, face turning solemn. "My condolences."

Jasper grinned—he'd landed himself a spitfire. "Why, thank you. Now. About your grudge against Edward."

"No grudge, just plan to beat him within an inch of his life. Grudges are much more time consumin'. And I'm so _very_ busy."

He didn't quite manage to smother his amused chuckle. "I still can't let you do that."

The slight humor that had turned up the corner of her mouth vanished. "Let me get this straight. What you're sayin' is that I'm right, but you're not gonna let me do anything about it?"

"Pretty much sums it up."

"You realize my problem's not with you, right? But it will be if you don't let. Me. _Down_."

"I have to decline."

"It really ain't your call."

"That might be true," he agreed. "But somethin' about you dirtyin' your hands on him bothers me."

Her head tilted as her eyes narrowed in thought. "I'm listenin'."

Jasper choked back the rumbling approval rising in his chest. "Tell me, darlin'. How against the idea of lettin' me handle it are you?"

"You might be able to sway me."

He nodded once and set her down gently next to Bella, retrieving her dropped bag and putting it in her hand before moving to stand in front of Edward. He paused for a moment to gauge whether or not the telepath knew what was coming.

Not a clue.

Jasper struck out suddenly, landing a punch to the other vampire's gut, and watched Edward drop to his knees as Alice gaped in astonishment.

He hadn't bothered to pull the punch.

"Good enough?"

His mate considered it for a long moment. "It'll do."

He took her hand in his as he bowed over it, brushing a light kiss over her bruised knuckles. "Jasper Whitlock, at your service."

She raised an eyebrow but played along. "Annabelle Lee Swan."

"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Swan," he said, reluctantly releasing her hand.

"I think you've earned the right to call me Anna Lee, Mr. Whitlock."

"Only if you call me Jasper."

Anna Lee's mouth tilted in amusement. "I hadn't expected to find a gentleman this far north."

"You know what they say. You can take the boy out of the south but you can't take the south out of the boy. You know," he admitted conversationally, "I've been livin' up here so long that I'd given up hope of ever hearin' the sweet dulcet tones of a southern belle again."

Her grin grew slightly. "Well, with a name like mine, I'm held to a certain standard."

"It's clearly not a very high one," Edward muttered, climbing to his feet.

Jasper frowned. Why was he trying to keep Edward alive again?

Anna Lee kept her focus on Jasper, though the semi-friendly expression on her face had suffered. "Are you still livin' under the same roof as that brother of yours?"

"Unfortunately."

"My _sincerest_ condolences."

"You're too kind." Jasper returned. He was beginning to sense a few muffled emotions from his mate but Bella's aura was still eerily silent.

Anna Lee turned to her cousin, voice gentle. "Bells? You still up to hittin' the grocery store. If not, I'm sure Uncle Charlie could be persuaded to order in."

The words seemed to pull Bella out her stupor. "We really need groceries."

"It ain't like we can't do it tomorrow."

The teenager pulled in a deep breath, shoulders straightening. "No, I'm okay. We can go." She showed her cousin a hesitant smile. "And I'd still like to look at paint for your room."

Was his mate _staying_? Jasper had assumed that Anna Lee's visit would be brief, likely brought on by her cousin's poor state. He hadn't thought that she would remain in Forks. He'd been mentally liquidating the assets he'd acquired during his time with the Cullens so that he could follow her when she left. He wondered how long she would be staying—it had to be a while if they were fixing a room for her. That meant he would have time to court her properly. He would have to let Peter and Charlotte know—if, by some chance, they didn't know already—so that they could prepare the ranch for an addition to their coven.

Though it might be wise for him to go ahead and liquidate those assets.

"Alright. We can do that." Anna Lee agreed easily with Bella's plans, before turning to Jasper. "I reckon I'll see you around then."

"You'll be stayin' a while?" he asked her, wanting to make sure he'd read the situation right.

"Looks that way."

"Will you be goin' to Forks High with Bella?"

His mate blinked at him uncomprehendingly and turned to her cousin.

"I think he's asking if he'll see you at school." Bella let a tiny smile escape.

Anna Lee whipped back around. "You're in high school?"

He was confused by her sudden suspicion and mistrust, though the emotions were coming through strongly now. "I'll be a senior this year."

She whirled back to Bella. " _Really_?"

Her cousin didn't seem to understand where the confusion was coming from any more than he did, but answered the question anyway. "Yeah."

Anna Lee openly stared at Jasper, disbelief warring with concern even as she met his eyes unflinchingly. "No way in hell you're a teenager."

Her words were barely audible to vampires and seemed to be directed inward but Edward took no notice, instead turning an accusing glare on Bella. "You told her? We trusted you. And you just betray us like this? Letting you near my family was a mistake."

Jasper's mate had her cousin pushed firmly behind her the second Edward turned his attentions to Bella, disbelief and confusion fading to surety. Her eyes had never looked away from his but they'd taken on a hard glint. "I don't much care what all's goin' on here, but our deal for your brother is about to run its course."

Jasper sighed. "He's on his own from here on out. I just ask you to remember that his opinions aren't mine."

Her stare turned cold then, absolutely arctic in its intensity. "Go back to standin' idly by while he pulls this shit of his and I won't be anywhere _near_ as understandin'."

His heart sank. It was clear to him now that this was far from the first time that Edward had cornered Bella and Anna Lee had known it. Worse, she believed that he'd cottoned on to it as quick as she had and had chosen to do nothing about it. "I swear I didn't know, Anna Lee. If I had… Rest assured, we wouldn't be havin' problems now." He turned to her cousin, realizing that she might think the same. "I'm sorry, Bella. Truly. I won't rest until I've made it up to you."

Bella's eyes welled with tears at his emphatic confession. "It's alright, Jasper. I was never mad at any of you." She gave a slight grin. "That's apparently what cousins are for."

"Mad ain't the half of it." Anna Lee's attention briefly settled on Alice before flicking back to Jasper. "You'd best rein him in. I doubt your family wants me doin' it for you."

"Understood."

With that, his mate turned to leave, guiding Bella ahead of her.

"You're just going to let them leave? We have to take them to Carlisle. Bella told her cousin about us. It's only a matter of time before—"

Jasper didn't have the patience to deal with Edward in any capacity after recent discoveries, so he cut off the golden boy's tirade with an ironic truth. "Bella didn't tell her anything. _You_ did."

"I did no such thing!"

"Actually," Alice ventured, finally speaking up. "You're the reason she's suspicious."

Edward pointed at Jasper. "But _he's_ the one that—"

"No, Edward." Alice interrupted softly. "In every possibility, she convinced herself that Jasper was just an old soul. But your accusations toward Bella—as disgusting as they were to hear from someone who claimed to love her, heart and soul—your accusations are what solidified her suspicions. If she knows what we are, it's because of you."

"But the Volturi—"

"Are not a concern."

"Of course they're a concern! They're _always_ a concern! And it's not just them we have to worry about now. That punch, it shouldn't have hurt. We at least need to take Bella's cousin to Carlisle, if not both of them."

Jasper had officially had enough of Edward's concerns—and that was ignoring the fact that the telepath's emotions didn't come close to matching his words. "If I hear that you've gone anywhere near those girls, I will rip you apart myself."

Alice either agreed with the sentiment or was ignoring it for the time being—and Jasper wasn't entirely convinced she was ignoring it, mate or not. "But we do need to have a family meeting. We need to make everyone aware of the situation. We aren't in any danger, but they do need to understand the very real possibility that Anna might figure out our secret."

"Or the very real possibility that Bella will tell her." Edward added.

"She won't." Jasper's voice was certain.

"You can't know that!"

"Bella would never betray us, not even to family. And Anna Lee would never ask her to." If there was one thing that Jasper had learned about the Swan family in their brief acquaintance, it was that their loyalty was unwavering once it had been earned. And they had earned Bella's, though he was fairly sure that they didn't deserve it.

Edward, of course, was of a different mind. "Now you're just being ridiculous. They're human; we can't trust them to—"

Jasper's fist snapped out to catch Edward straight in the face, feeling like his mate had the right idea about things. Though Edward would be lucky if beating him half to death was _all_ that Jasper did to him if he uttered one more word against the Swan girls. "If I were you, I'd be very, _very_ quiet until we get back to the house. Because the more you say, the more sure I am that you have some kind of a death wish. On second thought, I suggest you run on ahead and give me a chance to curb some of my more homicidal instincts. Alice, you go with him and keep him out of my way; I'll go collect the car."

His phone rang the second he'd settled in behind the wheel. " _What_?" he asked tersely, throwing the car in gear and speeding out of the parking lot.

"Howdy to you, too, Major."

"Peter." His temper was quickly fraying and, as much as he loved Peter, now was _not_ the time for his habitual evasiveness. "Get to the point."

"You need to calm down."

Jasper's foot pressed a little harder on the gas. "You called to tell me to _calm_ _down_?"

"And to congratulate you on finding your mate." Peter told him, unphased by his blood brother's deceptively mild tone but knowing he'd likely be missing a limb if it weren't for the few hundred miles between them. "But it's real important that you calm down. I know your instincts are runnin' hot, but you need a cool head for what's comin' next. You've gotta play this right with the Cullens; they'll make things a lot harder for your mate if you don't."

"Explain. _Now_."

"I don't get the specifics like your pixie, you know that. I just know that they might make trouble, but it'll be fleetin' if they do." He couldn't keep the dark amusement out of his voice, not knowing what the fix would entail but, at the same time, _knowing_. "Your mate's not the squeamish type, Major. And I get the feelin' that she'll appreciate your true personality more than that horseshit you shovel for the Cullens."

Jasper had gotten that much himself, but knowing that she would stand against the Cullens and _succeed_ both soothed and excited the parts of himself that he kept hidden from his temporary coven. "Any other words of wisdom?"

"No. But I do know one thing: she'll never be a Cullen." Peter paused to let that bit of information sink in before delivering the next. "She was born to be a Whitlock."

Huh. Maybe he _should_ start liquidating those assets. If things went sideways with the Cullens…

"That's not a half-bad plan, Major."


	4. Chapter 4

Bella had perked up almost immediately when presented with the hardware store's paint samples. She had picked out far more paint chips than was necessary, but she was smiling and laughing so Anna Lee had gone along with her cousin's excitement over color schemes.

The trip to the grocery store, however, was no laughing matter. After nearly three hours in the store—not including time spent in the only checkout line open—Bella and Anna Lee had overfilled two carts just with basic pantry staples and meals for the next week. They had blindly forked over Charlie's credit card, ignoring dirty looks and rude comments from the customers behind them.

Neither Swan cared to repeat the experience and had sworn on Bella's grocery-laden truck that the pantry would never fall into that state again.

Then came lugging the groceries inside and refilling shelves, trying to work out a logical system to organize the suddenly overstocked pantry. After the physical exertion and mental gymnastics, the cousins sprawled out on the kitchen floor, propping themselves upright on the cabinets.

"Chinese?"

"Chinese."

Bella had pulled out her cell phone to place the order but neither of them had budged until the doorbell rang and they exchanged a long look.

"I made the call." Bella pointed out.

"Damn it." Anna Lee realized that she'd lost the argument before it had begun and peeled herself off of the floor to get the door.

"We still keep the Take-Out Fund in the cookie jar," the younger Swan called after her.

They were just setting the food out when Charlie returned from his shift. He hung his gun and holster on a peg by the back door. "It sure is nice to come home after a long day's work to a meal cooked with love."

His comment was met with icy glares and he quickly backtracked. "Not funny. Got it. So. What have my girls been up to this afternoon?"

Anna Lee moved by him to get three glasses out of the cabinet over his shoulder. "Restockin' the pantry."

Understanding dawned on the sheriff. "Hence the Chinese."

"And we picked up paint samples for Anna Lee's room." Bella told him as she set out plates.

"What colors are you looking at?"

Anna Lee paused as she reached for the third glass. "She picked up every color in the rainbow. And a few that shouldn't be in it."

Charlie's eyes caught on his niece's hand as she pulled a glass down from the shelf. "What happened there?"

She rotated the hand holding the glass and frowned in confusion, as if it was the first time she had seen it. "Huh. Must've happened when I was cleanin'."

"You hurt yourself while _cleaning_?"

"It happens."

He was still skeptical. "What, were you cleaning someone's face?"

Anna Lee batted her lashes at her uncle. "Would I do that?"

"Rotten apple," Charlie declared as he pointed at her.

She passed the glasses off to Bella. "I think your job is getting to you. It's making you crotchety and suspicious."

He looked to Bella, silently demanding the truth.

"We ran into Edward today. She hit him."

Charlie's face changed rapidly with his emotions—the most lasting of which was glee. "Who wants milkshakes?"

"Charlie," Bella groaned.

"You're right, Bells. It's wrong of me to treat us all to milkshakes when Anna Lee has lowered herself to violence against your ex-boyfriend." He looked properly contrite for a full second before grinning widely. "This situation clearly calls for pie _and_ milkshakes."

Charlie tugged Anna Lee into a one-armed hug. "Rotten apple or not, you're my favorite."

"Hey!"

* * *

Jasper had taken Peter's advice and circled Forks until he was calm.

Well, maybe not calm.

That was probably the last thing he could be considered. But he was at least thinking rationally now and he figured that would have to do.

He wasn't looking forward to this. It didn't matter what Edward had done; he was still the Cullens' golden boy and Jasper was, well… _not_. Even if he approached this as diplomatically as possible—and he had his doubts about managing that—it was still going to be seen as an attack on the telepath.

But it had to be done.

Carlisle like to forget that Jasper led a coven of his own, preferred to think of him as broken by his experiences in the wars.

But he was far from broken.

And Carlisle didn't know the half of it. Oh, he liked to think he did but the man had never seen true war—certainly not the kind of war vampires were capable of. He considered himself _above_ violence, one of the reasons they tended to clash.

Being the outsider, Jasper had always respected Carlisle's position in the coven. But it was clear that he'd lost control of his "son"—if he'd ever had it to begin with.

The point was moot anyway.

Edward was a threat to Bella, a threat to the Swan family, and a threat to his mate.

And it ended _now_.

The Swans were his.

* * *

Emmett caught him as soon as he walked in the door. "Shit, man. What the hell happened? Alice won't even look at Edward. And Eddie's pouting in the corner, muttering about how unstable you are."

Jasper turned to him in surprise. "They didn't tell you?"

"No. Alice called a family meeting, said we all had to be here. Of course, Eddie said you weren't family so it didn't matter if you were here or not."

"After today, I'm glad I'm not."

"Aw, you know you're family, bro. To me and Rose, at least. But I can understand why you wouldn't want to be related to Eddie. Some of us don't have a choice. Me, I married into it."

Rosalie passed by them on her way from the garage, clearly not wanting to deal with the latest drama any longer than she had to. "Come on. Let's get this over with."

Esme and Carlisle were on the loveseat sharing concerned looks. Alice was, surprisingly, as far from Edward as the room would allow. Jasper took up a position on the wall near the couch Rosalie and Emmett settled on.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "I hear there was an incident in town today."

Jasper snorted. "You could say."

"Jasper." Esme admonished.

Edward glared at him. "It was more than an _incident_. Our lives are in danger."

"Perhaps you start at the beginning, dear." His mother figure soothed.

That was all the encouragement Edward needed to launch into his account. "Bella's cousin isn't human. She doesn't reek of shifter, but she's something. She was able to hit me without injuring herself."

His announcement was followed by a chorus of gasps and Emmett's "Eddie got hit by a _girl_?"

Jasper raised a hand to calm the room. "Before we get carried away here, that's not the beginning; it's the end."

Edward bristled. "You would accuse me of lying?"

"I'm not accusin' you of honesty," Jasper drawled.

"That's quite enough, Jasper." Carlisle cut in.

He stared at the Cullens, incredulous. "Did any of you even question _why_ Anna felt the need to hit him?"

"His face isn't enough reason?" Emmett winced as his mate elbowed him in the ribs. "It's a valid point, babe."

Edward ignored Emmett's comment in favor of Jasper's. "That has nothing to do with—"

Jasper cut him off. "You ambushed Bella in the middle of the street. I don't know all of what was said as I was busy tailing a pissed off Swan, but by the time we made it to you, Bella was crying."

"Oh, Edward. How could you do that to Bella?" Esme asked the telepath.

"I didn't do anything wrong! It's not my fault she started crying."

Alice took a deep breath, steeling herself for what was to come. "But it is. You said awful things to her, Edward, just awful. If you truly loved Bella, how could you say those things to her now?"

"Of course I loved her, Alice. I still love her. But you're all missing the point. Bella's cousin is dangerous. And not only that, she knows what we are. When the Volturi find out, they'll kill us all. Carlisle, we have to do something about her."

"A grave situation, indeed." Carlisle stroked his chin in thought. "We'll need to speak with both Bella and her cousin."

"That's not going to be enough. The situation is far more serious than that. The Volturi—"

In that instant, Jasper realized that the Cullens couldn't be trusted with the truth of his changed relationship with the Swan family. It was time to put an end to the family meeting and get shit done. He focused his concentration on Edward, centered himself, and _yanked_.

" _Enough_."

Edward fell back in his chair, gasping. Jasper forced them all back in their seats with a dose of lethargy when it looked like Carlisle might pitch a fit and the girls would get too close to Edward.

So much for diplomacy.

"It's time you listened to the truth now. Annabelle Swan does not know that we're vampires. However, thanks to Edward, she now knows that we aren't entirely human. As long as no harm comes to Bella—in _any_ form—she doesn't give a damn what we do." Jasper turned to Alice, putting her on the spot. "Have I misrepresented the truth in any way?"

"No, you haven't."

"Are the Volturi going to come down on us because of anything that has occurred today?"

"No."

"Do we have _any reason_ to worry about Annabelle Swan?"

"No. She's going to be family one day."

Rosalie snorted. "Instead of Bella, you mean? Exactly how is she supposed to become family?"

"I don't know," Alice admitted. "I only see her as a vampire, nothing before or after that."

Jasper had never appreciated the existence of shields more in his life.

"You said the same thing about Bella," Rosalie pointed out. "Clearly, things can change."

He knew this wouldn't. Although, he trusted Peter's prediction more than he did Alice's—a Whitlock his mate would be.

Emmett broke in. "How'd she hit Edward, though? What? You're all thinking it."

Jasper relaxed back against the wall. "She's a shield. In fact, the entire Swan line has the ability."

"That's an extraordinarily rare ability, Jasper. It's unlikely that an entire family carries the gift." Carlisle informed him.

He bit back a sigh, having forgotten that Carlisle was the only one in the coven allowed to have a brain. "But they do. Psychic gifts are passed down through bloodlines; you know that as well as I do. The Swans are shields. Why else would Edward be unable to read Bella's thoughts?"

"How does shielding your mind make you able to punch a vampire?" Emmett asked, curious.

"Anna's shield manifested physically."

Emmett's eyes lit up, clearly planning future wrestling matches between himself and the newly discovered shields. "Cool!"

Carlisle frowned. "Psychic gifts don't manifest physically."

Jasper sent a bit of apathy his way to end the discussion. "They do if there's a need."

And he doing his best _not_ to think about that need right now. There would be no way to keep a level head if he did.

Edward rose shakily to his feet. "What did you do to me?"

"Removed your emotions so that you can think with a clear head."

"You have no right!"

Jasper had lost all sympathy for the telepath—right around the time he'd implied that they should kill his mate. "You're out of control. You've given in to the desire for your singer's blood. You've been harassing Bella for months now. Stalking her. Destroying her spirit bit by bit. Now you want us to give you permission to kill the Swans. But Annabelle and Charlie won't taste like Bella. That's not how it works."

"You're lying! I would never—"

The empath shoved a dose of calm in Edward's direction. "Shut up and _think_ for a minute. Without the bloodlust and the obsession weighing in, just _think_ about what you've been doing to Bella."

A moment later, the telepath sank into the chair behind him, stricken. "Oh, God. What have I done?"

Jasper pushed himself off the wall. "Now. Here's what's going to happen."


	5. Chapter 5

Jasper pulled up in front of the Swan house. Anna Lee might be sure that he was less than human, but it was probably best to keep playing the part. The existence of vampires was a lot to spring on someone you'd only met the day before, mate or not. As he knocked on the door, he could hear Bella and his mate in the kitchen, discussing paint colors.

Bella was genuinely surprised to see him on her back porch. "Jasper?"

"Mornin', Bella."

"Oh, um, good morning."

"Who is it, Bells?" his mate called from inside.

He could feel that Bella was still confused by his presence even as she stepped aside to let him in. "It's Jasper."

"Jasper?" Anna Lee's aura echoed her cousin's confusion for a brief moment before it disappeared from his senses entirely—along with Bella's.

So, at least one of the Swan shields still didn't trust him.

And he had a pretty good idea which one it was.

"Mornin'. You had breakfast yet? I can reheat somethin' for you." His mate sounded nice enough, but he knew from personal experience that good hospitality did not necessarily equate to friendly feelings toward the guest.

He grinned, unable to hide his amusement. "I'm fine, thanks. I actually came to talk."

Anna Lee gestured to the kitchen table currently covered in color swatches and they all took a seat. He noticed that his mate had taken the chair at the end of the table, not to be close to him, but to put herself between him and Bella.

He approved.

Jasper faced Bella and hoped his mate understood that he wasn't trying to ignore her. But this conversation was mostly for her cousin's sake; it was Bella that needed to know what had been decided. "We had a bit of an intervention last night."

"For Edward?" Bella asked cautiously.

"Yeah. For Edward."

A mutter came from the end of the table. "About damn time."

Jasper couldn't agree more, but since Bella hadn't caught the stray comment, he figured it was best not to bring it to her attention. "His actions can't be allowed to continue."

"How are you plannin' on stoppin' him?"

"Anna Lee!" Bella turned wide eyes on her cousin.

His mate was unrepentant. "It's an answer you're entitled to, Bells."

"Anna Lee's right. You deserve an answer," he cut in, not wanting it to turn into a full-blown argument. "Edward's not going to be in Forks for a while."

Bella turned those same wide eyes on him. "You sent him away?"

"Your safety is more important than his free will." Jasper tried to impress upon the distraught human. He didn't need his empathy to sense Bella's guilt. "It's not your fault. Edward brought this on himself."

"But to send him away from his family." She protested.

"He's not alone, Bella. He's staying with our friends in Alaska."

Bella's eyes lit with recognition even as she frowned. "For good?"

"Until he learns to treat you the way you deserve to be treated, even if you aren't in a relationship anymore."

"What if he doesn't?" Anna Lee asked, ignoring her cousin's sudden intake of breath.

He met his mate's stare. "Then he stays in Alaska."

Anna Lee nodded, looking between Jasper and Bella, before gathering a few swatches and rising from her chair. "I'm going to start taping up our choices. You should catch up with Jasper for a bit."

He was grateful for the chance Anna Lee was giving him to make things right with Bella, but didn't miss the warning glance she shot his way as she left the kitchen. Jasper had known that, while curious, she wasn't particularly concerned about the secret her cousin was helping them keep. But leaving him alone with Bella so that they could discuss that same secret was something else entirely.

He also couldn't help but notice that he could once again sense their auras.

Bella peeked over her shoulder to make sure her cousin was out of earshot. "Is he really with the Denalis?"

"Left last night. Alice went with him."

"Alice is gone too?" She seemed to be nearing tears.

"She just went up to get him settled," he reassured the human. "She should be back tonight."

Bella just nodded glumly.

"This is _not_ your fault, Bella. You are not to blame for any of this. It's on us. We knew the dangers and we ignored them. I can't apologize enough."

"Jasper, you don't have to—"

"But I do," he insisted. "I knew that things weren't lining up, but I didn't do anything about it. I should have recognized his obsession, should have realized that he was out of control."

"Edward should have said something." Bella acknowledged softly.

"He should have."

She looked up at him, biting her lip. "I didn't tell Anna Lee about you guys. I just—I just wanted you to know that."

"I do." Jasper told her gently. "I know we can trust you with our secret. When Anna Lee discovers the truth, it won't be because you told her."

"I don't know how she knew you weren't really a high school student."

"Because she looked closer than most. I'm not a very convincing teenager."

"I wouldn't say that. No one else has noticed. I certainly didn't." Bella protested.

He smirked. "Because you were too busy looking at Edward."

She hesitated. "That might be somewhat true."

"Only somewhat?" He teased.

"Okay, okay. You're totally right." Bella sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it."

Jasper shrugged. "Shit happens. Life goes on. Trust me, I would know."

"I guess you would."

"There's something else I wanted to talk to you about," he began.

"About Edward?"

"About you. Anna Lee, too."

Her emotions shot straight back to worry and guilt. "What is it?"

He pushed a heavy dose of calm her way. When had she started blaming herself for everything? He was forced to wonder if it was something Edward had made her believe. Emotional abuse, maybe? Or were her shields incomplete when it came to his telepathic influence? "Relax, it's not bad news. Honestly, I thought they'd told you, but after last night's conversation, that clearly isn't the case."

"But it's not bad?"

"No." Jasper paused, wanting her complete attention on the subject he was about to broach. "Bella, you're a shield."

"What?" she asked, completely baffled.

At least she wasn't feeling guilty anymore.

"You're a shield. That's why Edward can't read your mind."

"Okay." Bella considered it for a few seconds. "Um, what _is_ a shield exactly?"

"It's a psychic ability, one that can first manifest in a number of ways. For you, it was blocking Edward." He explained.

"So, because I'm a shield, my thoughts are safe from mind readers?"

"Actually, that's probably just the beginning."

"The beginning?" she repeated. "Wait. I thought you said this was about Anna Lee _and_ me."

"It is."

"She's a shield too? But how do you know?"

"She hit Edward."

"What does that have to do with—" She stared at him then, as her mind pieced the situation together. "That was _real_? I thought he was acting! There's no way she could actually hurt him!"

He just looked at her.

"That's part of the shield thing?"

"Tends to run in families."

"But she _hit_ Edward. Without ending up in traction. How is that the same as having an AM brain?"

Jasper sighed. _How_ had the Cullens missed this? "Because shields instinctively protect themselves and the things they consider precious. When you first came into contact with Edward, you instinctively protected your mind from the perceived threat. Anna Lee instinctively protected her body."

"Wow. And you're sure that's the same thing?"

He struggled to force down the protective feelings that rose when he thought of the way his mate's gift had manifested. It was getting harder and harder to do. The logic that said that she was safe now and that he could protect her if that changed was doing little to negate the fact that his mate had been in danger and he hadn't been there for her. It also didn't help that, since he didn't know what that danger had been, his mind was constantly turning over new possibilities—each one more horrific than the last.

The only thing that forced his overactive imagination to retreat was the memory of her punching Edward. Because if she hit a vampire because she thought he was a jerk, she could hit one if it threatened her.

"Generally, protecting yourself from psychic threats comes first."

And, just like that, the Swan curiosity was back in play. "What makes the physical stuff come first?"

"Necessity," he bit out.

Luckily, Bella missed his true meaning. "So, we can do the same things, we just started at different ends?"

Jasper grinned, pushing everything unnecessary out of his mind for the time being. "I knew you'd catch on."

She frowned. "But how do we tell Anna Lee that she's a shield without letting the vampires out of the bag? She's not going to believe it without some sort of proof and we really can't prove it without you guys."

"I don't think we'll have to keep it to ourselves for long. Swans are apparently pretty clever."

"I don't think I've set the bar very high." Bella gave a self-deprecating laugh.

He pushed some confidence her way, unsure where these feelings were coming from. It wasn't like her at all. "Sure you have. You did figure out that vampires exist. And that they attend high school."

Jasper managed to pull a slight giggle from the girl with his last comment. "I still don't understand why you put yourselves through that over and over."

He didn't either. "I think it's a Cullen thing. This will probably be my last year." Even before he'd found his mate, he'd been sick of this particular charade.

"Ugh. I wish it was my last year. I kind of hate you a little now. Anna Lee, too, the traitor."

"She's a senior?"

"Yeah." Bella waggled her eyebrows at him, suddenly seeming more like her old self. "Looks like you'll both be seniors, huh?"

He grinned at her. "What a coincidence."

She gave him a very stern look. "Hurt my cousin and I hurt you. Because I can apparently do that now. Somehow. I'll figure it out."

"Considered me warned," he assured her, affecting a matching serious expression.

Bella grinned back.

Jasper rose and pushed his chair back under the table. "I'll let the two of you get back to your paint samples. I just thought you should know that Edward wouldn't be bothering you anymore."

"Thanks, Jasper."

He ruffled her hair. "Not a problem, little sister."

The smile she gave him then was genuine, without any influence from him.

And he felt all the more guilty for leaving her alone all that time. His little sister had needed him and where had he been? Respecting a coven leader's position when he took all his cues from brat addicted to his singer.

So much for that God of War thing he'd had going back in the day.

But now that he had a mate—and three new additions to his coven—he was determined to find it again.

"Oh, and Esme would like you and Anna Lee to come over for dinner. Don't force yourself, though. We understand if you're not ready." He paused. "Okay, _I_ understand if you're not ready. Don't let anyone force you into a situation you're not comfortable with."

She shot him a wry grin. "I don't think that will be a problem anymore. Anna Lee would have something to say about it."

"That she would." He chuckled as he let himself out. 


	6. Chapter 6

Bella gathered the rest of the paint swatches to take to the guest room, where Anna Lee stood staring at a handful of samples taped by the window. Setting the swatches down, she thumbed through the pile on the desk. "I take it these didn't make the cut?"

Anna Lee taped another swatch to the wall. "Why did you even pick up pink ones?"

"I might have gotten carried away." Bella shot her cousin a sheepish smile as she found three similar shades of Barbie pink.

" _Might_ have? You picked up eleventy billion more than we needed."

"You're exaggerating." She taped up a soft blue sample.

"I'm really not."

Bella glanced at the sorted piles of swatches covering the desk. "Yeah, that might be eleventy billion more than we need. Are you leaning toward a color yet?"

"Not yet. Something soft, though."

"So nothing bright then." The younger Swan flicked through the samples and began discarding the fluorescent pinks and greens, Anna Lee tossing over a few reds and oranges from her own pile.

Bella watched her cousin work for a moment, methodically sorting and taping swatches. "Are you going to ask?"

She paused to look at Bella. "Ask what?"

"What Jasper and I talked about."

"Nope." Anna Lee continued on with her task.

"You're not?"

"None of my business."

"Seriously?"

She shrugged. "Provided nobody makes you cry."

"Are you going to ask _anything_?"

"Nope."

"None of your business?"

"None of my business."

"You're not curious at all?"

Anna Lee turned to her with an incredulous stare. "Of course I'm curious; I'm a Swan."

"But you're still not going to ask?"

"Nope." She turned away to tape another sample to the wall.

"Why not?"

"'Cause it ain't your secret to tell. I can respect that."

Bella frowned in confusion. "So you're going to ask Jasper?"

"Nope." At her cousin's look, she continued, "Don't figure I'd get much of an answer, what with it bein' a _secret_ and all."

"Jasper thinks you'll figure it out like I did."

"I appreciate his faith in my intelligence."

Bella just stared at Anna Lee. "How can you _stand_ it, the not knowing?"

"Every time I start to wonder about it, I shove it all back in the "not my business" box."

"It's kind of your business though," she pointed out. "You know them now. And you'll have classes with Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie."

"Do you _want_ me to figure it out?"

She shrugged and ducked her head under her cousin's scrutiny. "I wouldn't mind having someone to talk to about it."

"Someone normal, you mean?" Her cousin had always been quick to cut through to the heart of the matter.

"Yeah. I know it's selfish, though. I mean, it's not exactly the safest secret to keep. But if you're just going to figure it out on your own _eventually_ , why wait?"

Anna Lee frowned. "I didn't think the secret had much to do with rainbows and unicorns, but it's that dangerous?"

"Well..."

The dots suddenly connected. "That bullshit about you trippin' and takin' out half a hotel? I knew that won't on the level."

"How did you—"

Anna Lee just raised an eyebrow. "I've seen the death grip you keep on a handrail. No way in hell you let go long enough to fall down a flight of stairs." Her face darkened at the thought that followed.

"What's wrong?"

"Who do I need to kill?"

"Why do you need to kill anyone?"

"If you weren't hurt on accident, then you were hurt on purpose. Which means I have someone to kill—namely, the person who did the hurtin'." She explained.

"Oh." Now following her cousin's uncompromising logic, Bella was quick to reassure her. "You don't have to kill anyone."

"Someone damn near _killed_ you and you think this is _negotiable_? Human or not, they die. I don't even have to bother establishin' an alibi if they aren't. It's not murder if they don't exist."

Bella winced, realizing for the first time how it all must sound. Especially to someone as protective as Anna Lee. "Um, Jasper took care of it, actually."

Her cousin looked less than satisfied. "Permanently?" She prodded.

"Yeah."

"Huh." Anna Lee immediately discarded her half-baked plans of retribution. "How do you show your appreciation in a situation like this? I don't think a fruit basket is goin' to cut it."

"You're insane," Bella giggled.

Anna Lee pointed to herself. "Swan."

"Good point. We're all insane. Me, most of all."

"And why are you the most insane Swan?" She asked, amused. "Not that I'm arguin' the point."

Bella slumped onto the neatly made bed. "I miss them. The Cullens, I mean. When Edward broke up with me, I lost all of them too. Sometimes I think I miss them more than I miss Edward."

Anna Lee sat down, one arm going around her cousin. "They were your friends, right? Why would you lose them just because you broke up with their brother?

"I think Edward told them to stay away from me." Her nose scrunched. "Told them it was for my own good. That I would be better off living a normal life."

"Who died and made him the authority on normal? Newsflash: there's no such thing."

"I tried to tell him that the whole time we were dating. But Edward always knows best."

"Knew I should've hit him harder," Anna Lee muttered.

Bella snorted. "Maybe."

"Definitely." She paused. "You don't have to miss them, you know."

"What?"

"You'll see them at school. And without Edward around to _know best_ ," Anna Lee rolled her eyes, what she thought of Edward's attitude clear in her tone, "There's no reason you can't still be friends if you want to."

The younger Swan was quiet. "I want to. But we haven't spoken in months. I can't just go up to them like nothing happened."

"You don't have to ignore what happened. No one expects you to be over it. Not after yesterday, anyway."

"It's different now."

"Doesn't seem to be a bad different. You just spent a good half hour with Jasper, remember?"

"That's true. You know, I think that's the first time I've ever been alone with Jasper."

"You're kiddin'."

"Edward didn't like me to be around him."

"Of course he didn't. If you hung around Jasper, you'd realize Edward was an asshole and leave him. You're smart like that."

Bella fought a smile. Anna Lee had always had a talent for simplifying the overly complicated.

"What?"

"Nothing. But, speaking of Jasper, he told me something today."

"Somethin' I'm allowed to hear?"

"This part, yes." She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "We've been invited to dinner."

Anna Lee blinked, not entirely sure what her younger cousin expected her to do with the information. "Okay?"

"Are you going to say anything about any of this?"

"It's entirely up to you. If you want to go, we'll go. I'll ignore my social awkwardness and be your buffer if you feel uncomfortable or put my foot down and bring us home if they upset you. And if you don't want to go, we don't go. I'll even tell 'em if you don't want to be the one that says no."

Bella bit her lip. She really did miss the Cullens—even if she doubted that they missed her. Emmett had been the boisterous older brother she'd never had. He'd reminded her a lot of days spent playing with the rez boys when she was younger. While Bella was sure that Rosalie didn't care for the human among them, she could always be counted on for speaking the—usually blunt—truth. It was impossible not to miss Carlisle and Esme; Carlisle for his welcoming nature and Esme for her motherly hugs. While she hadn't known Jasper as well as the rest, she had always appreciated his silent strength. She and Alice had been really close. The tiny vampire had made Anna Lee's physical absence easier to bear. Bella certainly understood now why her cousin had to forgo her yearly visits to Forks. But phone calls were a poor substitute when she was used to spending every minute of summer vacation with Anna Lee. "I think I want to go."

"Then we'll go."

"And we can come home if I change my mind?" She asked in a small voice.

"That very second," her cousin promised.

Bella laid her head on her cousin's shoulder. "I'm glad you're here."

Anna Lee laid her head on top of Bella's and pulled her closer. "Me too."


End file.
